The boss of a stone company connected to insolvent Garenne Construction Group in the Channel Islands has spoken out.
by Rory Butler / April 4, 2023
Granite Le Pelley managing director, Richard Breban, told Construction Wave his business is not subject to the Garenne liquidation, adding the company is working on a management buyout.
His comments follow that of Amalgamated Facilities Management Ltd (AFM), one of Garenne’s facilities concerns, who told the BBC it too is not facing any insolvency process, and that its Jersey and Guernsey operations would continue.
What is happening?
KPMG Advisory and Interpath Advisory were recently appointed as joint liquidators of Garenne when it became insolvent.
The company, which has operations in Guernsey, Jersey and the UK, was founded in 1956, employs nearly 1,000 people and had an annual turnover of £150 million.
Granite Le Pelley, one of its businesses, is said to be the largest stone company in Guernsey and Jersey.
Established in 1982, it specialises in the design, procurement, installation and maintenance for private, commercial and public works, and has factories in Europe and China.
‘Still trading’
“We are not part of the liquidation,” said Mr Breban (pictured). “We are still trading and working on a management buyout.”
He added: “Builders merchants are giving us their full support.”
Those words, he said, are echoed by Pascal Maurice, managing director of Granite Le Pelley in Jersey. Mr Breban is MD of the Guernsey branch.
Garenne’s liquidation follows the collapse in February of Jersey building firm Camerons Construction, to which Garenne was the parent company.
Financial headwinds brought on by Brexit and the pandemic, as well as supply chain pressures, labour and materials shortages, and soaring interest rates, had contributed to its collapse, Garenne said of Camerons at the time.
Garenne has prided itself on “a long tradition of investment in local construction”.
The Garenne Group
Rabeys Commercial Vehicles
The business deals with the sale, maintenance and hire of vehicles for light commercial, heavy goods, materials handling and agricultural, extending to Guernsey, Jersey, the UK and Europe. It is also an affiliate of Guernsey Tyres.
GSRM
GSRM is a joint venture in Jersey between Garenne Infrastructure and Sir Robert McAlpine, specialising in design, build, technical and management services for large construction and infrastructure projects.
Garenne Natural Stone
Garenne Natural Stone is a trading division of architectural precast specialists Sterling Services Ltd.
Its services are similar to Granite Le Pelley, including cladding, landscaping, precast, cleaning and restoration.
Garenne Shopfitting
Established in 1999 and based in Hampshire, the business specialises in UK shopfitting and interior fit-out to retail and commercial clients.
J3
Jersey General Hospital Nightingale Wing was a temporary facility that opened at Millbrook in May 2020 to support medical efforts in the pandemic. The project went from a field to a 180-bed fully functioning hospital in just 25 days with no pre-existing infrastructure in place. 541 people and 83 local businesses worked on the scheme.
Sterling Services
The 20-year architectural precast specialist headquartered in Somerset, specialises in the design, manufacture and installation of precast concrete cladding, mostly for bespoke projects. It caters to commercial and residential, civil and structural engineering, hard landscaping and public art clients.
All companies were approached for comment.
McAlpine declined to comment.
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